Does Kharkiv need such a monument?

Free the Freedom Square!

Open Letter

To the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the Minister of Culture of Ukraine Yevhen Nyshchuk, Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes, and the Executive Committee of the Kharkiv City Council

We would like to call your attention to a troubling situation with the layout of the Freedom Square in Kharkiv.

When the monument to Lenin was taken down on the Freedom Square in September 2014, the question arose: how to rethink and redesign the square, a place highly significant for Kharkiv's visual image, a world-famous monument of the 1920s and 1930s architecture and urban planning?

The Freedom Square was designed in 1925 to house administrative buildings, as a part of a large-scale reconstruction plan for Kharkiv, the capital of Soviet Ukraine at that time. Its enormous size (to this day the square is 11,9 hectares), its unique layout that unites round and straight sections with radial streets, and the international competition for the design of its most famous building, Derzhprom, attest to the particular significance of this space as a site of cutting-edge approaches to urban planning and architecture. The Derzhprom building, completed in 1928 in the constructivist style typical of the time, was the "first Soviet skyscraper" built of concrete and glass. Until now it remains the most well-known building in Kharkiv, an emblematic and rare example of Soviet modernism in world architecture. Several other buildings constructed on the square, such as the House of Projects and the House of Cooperation (now university campuses), and the International Hotel (now Hotel Kharkiv), were also built in the constructivist style in the early 1930s; later they were refashioned to suit the Stalinist Empire style.

The Freedom Square complex is a reminder of a fleeting period of artistic freedom and active participation of Soviet architects in the world artistic process, since it is well known that Soviet constructivists actively collaborated with their colleagues from around the world, including the United States and Germany (the famous Bauhaus movement). After the war, under the influence of repressive Stalinist policies in the field of art, the buildings that made up the square's ensemble were redone, to align with the tastes of that new era. This, however, negates neither their artistic qualities, nor their significance for world architecture. What is more, the Derzhprom building has remained unchanged, a unique monument to the architecture of the 1920s, which still draws tourists and architects to Kharkiv.

The square was redesigned in 1963 to make room for a monument to Lenin. The changes being made to this space today have been brought about not only by the monument's removal: this spot is still the center of the city, constantly changing to satisfy residents' evolving needs in both everyday and civic life. Moreover, the space merits a broad discussion regarding the fate and value of the 1920-30s’ architectural legacy and about its international context.

This being said, on November 2, 2016, Kharkiv city council announced a "blitz open competition" for a new monument to be situated on Freedom Square. This competition violated the law in several ways: it was announced as charitable (the winner would not receive a prize), the type of competition was not specified (even though the character of the place calls for an international competition and an international expert jury), and the competition's call for submissions contained neither the essence of the problem to be resolved, nor the criteria by which submissions would be judged. There were no public hearings regarding the fate of this place. Just three months later, on February 3, 2017, the winning submission was announced: an 86-meter decorative column, topped by an angel with a cross, which crudely destroys the unified historical appearance of the square. This winning project has countless analogues in the world while its originality and artistic value are doubtful, to say the least. Kharkiv city residents have already called the project “odoroblo,” which in Ukrainian means “a monster.” There are also substantial grounds to conclude that the winner was pre-determined, as this very design was featured in local media as early as in November 2016. Quite a few experts and ordinary Kharkovites believe that there is no need in this monument at all. The decision elicited mass protest from residents, as well as lawsuits.

We see this situation of monument mania as a threat to Kharkiv's historical environment, a manifestation of unprofessionalism, corruption, and a blatant lack of consideration for the interests of the residents of the city. We therefore demand:

That the jury's 3 February 2017 decision be revoked;

That public hearings on the future of Freedom Square's architecture and layout be convened and that representatives of expert communities and the public be ensured free access to them;

That an open international competition with an international jury be organized. The call for submissions should be developed in collaboration with international experts, taking into account the place of Freedom Square in city’s planning and the needs of Kharkovites who make use of this space.

That, the preservation of Freedom Square and its historic complex of buildings, a renown monument of urban planning and architecture, be promoted.

We ask that you pay close attention to the infractions listed in this letter and use all leverage your position allows for to promote as open and transparent decision-making process regarding the future of the Freedom Square in Kharkiv as possible.

Mykola Riabchuk, Ph.D. in Political Ptudies, researcher at the Institute of Political and Ethnonational Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, novelist, essayist

Andrii Kurkov, novelist

Natalka Sniadanko, novelist, journalist, translator

Mykhailo Krasikov, Ph.D. in Philology, member of the Council of Cultural Heritage Preservation in Kharkiv region, director of the Kharkiv branch of the Ukrainian Ethnology Center of the Institute for Arts, Folklore and Ethnology Studies, member of the International Association of Arts Researchers

Volodymyr Novhorodov, correspondent member of the Ukrainian Academy of Architecture, member of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, ICOMOS member, Kharkiv

Gelinada Grinchenko, Dr. habil., Professor, Department of Ukrainian Studies, V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University, Head of the Ukrainian Oral History Association

Volodymyr Lopatko, architect, member of the National Union of Architects of Ukraine, ICOMOS member, Kharkiv

Olga Kazakova, PhD, art historian, Director of Institute of Modernism (Moscow), Senior Research Specialist at the Research Institute of the Theory and History of Architecture and Town Planning, (NIITIAG)

Halyna Voitsekhivska, director of V.H. Zabolotnyi State Scientific Library of Architecture and Construction

Dimitrij Zadorin, MSc in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences at Delft University of Technology; Architect/Architectural Historian

Olena Mokrousova, historian and heritage specialist, PhD in History, leading specialist of Kyiv Research and Methodology Center for Preservation, Restoration, and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments and Nature Reserves, ICOMOS member, DO CO MO MO member

Vitaly Chernetsky, PhD, Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures; Director, Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies, University of Kansas; President, American Association for Ukrainian Studies

Nadia Plungian, PhD in Arts History

Anna Bronovitskaya, PhD, architectural historian, Head of Research at the Institute of Modernism (Moscow), lecturer at the Moscow Architectural School (MARSh)

John (Ivan) Jaworsky, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo, Ontario

Olga Bertelsen, PhD, research fellow at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

P.S. On February 28, 2017, the International Working Party for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement (Docomomo International) officially supported this letter.

If you would like to add your signature to the open letter please send your request to: orysia2011@gmail.com

Ph.D. in history, professor, director at the Institute of historical research of the Lviv National Ivan Franko University, visiting professor at the Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), editor and founder of the scholarly journal "Ukraïna Moderna." Most recent book: Passions Around...

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